The Energy ministry and Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) yesterday listed 45 fuel station said to have been selling adulterated fuel for the last three months.
A circular from the Rev Frank Tukwasibwe, the commissioner of Petroleum Supply Department in the Energy ministry, said the 45 fuel stations had failed the quarterly fuel marking exercise that differentiates adulterated fuel from the unadulterated one.
“For the licensed stations, the concerned companies were/are to be issued with a default notice as per the Petroleum Supply (General) Regulations. The stations will be unsealed upon furnishing the commissioner with satisfactory remedial actions taken and a written undertaking of not committing such a default in the remaining period of their petroleum licence,” the letter read in part.
The fuel marking exercise was introduced in Uganda in 1999 by the Energy ministry in collaboration with fuel marketing companies. The circular also indicated the adulteration of fuel in the country had dropped from 29.1 per cent in November 2009 to 0.5 per cent in August 2018 as a result of continued fuel marking and quality control programme.
The letter also indicated that the number of filling stations selling adulterated fuel had dropped by 69 from 114 during the first quarter of the year. Officials in the Energy ministry and UNBS have continually blamed inadequate manpower in covering the country to undertake fuel marking. They say the exercise is also affected by the proliferation of new districts in the country, which are not monitored.
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